Catastrophic Reaction
by helinamica6577
Summary: This is the story I hope to some day make into a book series. It is pretty graphic to me, but nothing sexual like. Please tell me how it is, and what I should do for it! HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

The world as we know it is ending. To keep any piece of our sanity we must fight, even though the constant fighting could eventually lead to even worse insanity, but even so, I decide to fight for my right to live then slowly slip away in hunger, sickness, and loss of everything that is sane. My life has changed, dramatically. Very dramatically. I can still remember that very first day things started to go wrong. I can't believe it was only one month ago. I feel like I've been in this world of bloodshed and horror for years already, but that might be my insanity talking.

It was a regular day. I, being an absolutely normal teenager, woke up for school, ate breakfast, and slipped out the door before my parents even awoke. The walk to school was long but peaceful in the warm weather of spring. School would be out in a couple of weeks and I was planning my amazing summer vacation every day instead of working on my studies. Summer was the best part of year. Not anymore.

The streets and miles passed by me in no time and just in time for the bell I made it to Kamigen High. This high school wasn't big, or pretty, or even popular. Just, an average, no-care, high school. The front doors were flooded with kids being let in to start their morning classes. I walked through slowly, eyeing the crowd for a friend to talk to. I found my bestie and walked to class with her. We sat down and the teacher started his lecher. Classes went by, meaningless words were passed through, and the day ended quickly without anything special. A normal day. My last.

The abnormality started about 5:30 pm, when the birds outside started going nuts and screeching as loud as they could. Minutes after they started, all the dogs in the neighborhood howled and growled and barked with all their might. Then the rest of the animals in town went nuts. Squirrels purposely threw nuts at passersby, any animal you went up to would growl, or hiss then try to bite you, birds knocked down everything they could and tried to scratch any human in sight, and everything else went against everything they ever acted kindly to.

Mother and Father ordered me to stay inside and threw our pet Chihuahua out the door after he attacked my baby brother. My younger sister's turtle was smashed against the pavement, breaking its shell, killing it, and causing my sister to burst into tears, after it had bit her finger so hard she was furiously bleeding.

We all huddled in the living room in front of the television, watching the 6 o'clock breaking news. Apparently, all across the country and even the whole world, there were animals going wild. Horses leading stampedes out of their fields and running over innocent farmers and their families, zoo animals, like polar bears and lions, couldn't be fed because they had managed to absolutely tear apart one worker who had been working with them for years, pets who had lovingly been with their owners for years started biting and practically killing every human in sight, birds pecked and scratching at everything, even the giant forests in other countries had their usually friendly animal come out and attack the villages.

My sister's crying and my brother's crying increased with every sad story that was playing on the TV. I started to shake. What was happening? Every animal on earth was going crazy, but why?

This insanity went on for days. The animals didn't seem to get any better but worse. Breaking down doors and crashing through windows just to attack something that would scream, and run, and bleed. Luckily our house stayed safe for us. Nothing got in, but we didn't go out. Obviously school was canceled because no one could go one step out their door, or even open their door, without being eaten by crazed dogs and cats and squirrels. Every day my younger siblings would cry, mad at my parents for being so mean to the 'poor animals', yet still terrified of those same animals.

I stayed in my room, trying to get used to the sound of constant slams against my window by attacking birds. Over the days, my window had started to grow red. Every time I looked at it I'd shake and cry. My only question to all that was happening around me was, why? Why did this have to happen? Why won't it stop? Why so suddenly?

Everything changed on the 9th day after the animals' betrayal. It was exactly noon when the noise started. Everyone could hear it but no one could describe it. It wasn't like a noise coming from outside that we could hear through the door. It was a strange constant… sound coming from inside each of our heads. We could all hear the same thing but in each one of heads alone. My siblings had already started sleeping most of the day and all of the night away, barely eating, and pretty much giving up on their young lives. I couldn't bear to even see them. My brother who had just began to walk, now lay in his cradle, sound asleep at every hour of the day. His energy gone. His mind disintegrating. His life force dyeing. He was now a lump of flesh that we could barely keep alive.

My sister who was usually a happy 9-year-old was now just as bad. Her oddly colored bright blond hair was starting to lose its color from all the darkness. Amazingly after all this time, we still had power but her lights were always off. She would lie in her bed crying. Mother tried to cheer her up and talk to her, saying everything would go back to normal in a little while and that all the animals would be ok. She would cry harder and then call her own mother a liar. She'd say that most of the animals will die and the rest will stay mindless killing machines. She'd say we'd all die, and no one would be left. She says each of our names, our distant family's names, and all of her friend's names over and over again and after each name she's state; "Dead." I never went to her room after I heard for the first time that little speech. Something had changed in her. Her mind was slowly losing its sanity and becoming a depressing vision of a future death world. Even so, Mother goes to her everyday and tries to get her mind out of all those horrible thoughts.

We've tried contacting our family, but the only thing they could say was the same thing was happening to them where they were and they were scared and didn't know what to do. I called each of my friends, but only got the same answer. Slowly… each and every person on earth was going insane, but I had to believe. I had to hope that we won't die as my sister so firmly states day after day. We have to live, survive, and hope for a clear future, not one where we couldn't even go outside our houses without being killed by vicious animals. I wanted to live, I had to live… and I lived.

It had been another three days after the sound started. After it didn't stop after the first night, my mother had started randomly screaming bloody murder. She was breaking. She couldn't handle it. We were stuck in our house; her children were dyeing and had been driven into insanity, and that noise. It wasn't particularly annoying, it just… wouldn't stop. Even Father started showing signs of his sanity starting to weaken against it. I tried to encourage them, make them feel better, but nothing worked. On the third day, Mother didn't get out of bed. She refused to eat. We had to wait till she was asleep to force-feed her. She had broken. She didn't believe anymore. She didn't see a light at the end of her tunnel. It was all dark in her world. There was no use for living anymore for her. She just couldn't take it. There was still random scream attacks, and she started vomiting out anything she ate, which wasn't much since our food supply was now deathly low.

More days went by. Father had stopped counting but I was still on it. Two weeks. Fourteen days. We've been stuck in this insane world for two whole weeks. Father was starting to lose it, starting his own random acts of deathly screams. I was the only one feeding them now. My siblings so skinny you could visibly count each one of their ribs. Mother is getting worse each day.

On the 15th day… Father gave in. He stayed in bed. Not moving. Just many hours of unconsciousness and few hours of silent, depressing consciousness. I fed them all. At first I would burst into tears at the sight of them, but now I came in like a nurse at a mental hospital, talking to them slowly, doing whatever they wished, and telling them fake hopes about getting better. My only question was; how had I not fallen into this state yet. My parents were older and more mature but they had fallen deep while I still had much hope. I had to keep believing that we would live, and stay a family forever. I wanted to believe it, I would believe it, and I had to!

It was the next day. The 16th day since this all started. May 28th. There were so many that died that horrible day. Everything I knew about the world ended that day. I was gone. I learned more about what had actually happened that day after it happened. It was another day. I awoke to the noise, easily ignoring it now. I took the last few bits of cereal and made everyone at least some breakfast, giving myself the least. I gave it to my siblings then my mother then father. I was about to leave the room when Father stopped me.

"Please," he cried weakly, his voice so dry and hoarse it sounded like a faint whisper. I went to him. Even though it was hard on him to talk I was so glad to hear his voice. I knelt at his bed side, staring intently at his thin, wrinkled face.

"Yes, Father," I said, holding my breath for an answer.

"My dear daughter, your mother, and I, and your younger siblings will not live, so stop giving us your only food," were his stiff words. I was shocked.

"No! I cannot do that! You are my family, and I must take care of you. I will not stop feeding you Father!" He smiled weakly. Even the moving of his own lips was painful to him.

"You have not lost your mind yet so you don't know. We all know we will die, but you, my dear, will live on for us. Our time will come very soon, and it's no use to try and lengthen what cannot go on longer then it is meant to. Soon, your life will change. You will struggle and have to fight for your own survival. Please, live on. You must never give in." Tears fell from my eyes creating permanent lines down my pale cheeks.

"Today… you will face your test of survival. You cannot be afraid. You must believe that you will leave. You must have no hesitation to this challenge. You cannot fail us. You're our only hope to live on and you must fulfill this wish. Please, leave us to our inevitable destiny and live on. Live on… live on… live-" his eyes closed and he became silent. I quickly checked… he was breathing, he only fell asleep.

I went down to the living room and sat in the couch looking at the blank screen on the television. What had father meant? What challenge? How did he know about this? Why must I live? I couldn't live without them; they were my family, a part of me. Why did father want to die? I knew it couldn't be his time yet? He wasn't even old. My head was filled with many questions. The question flew out of my mind when simultaneously the sound in my head and the loud noises that the animals had been making since the first day stopped. I gasped in shock. I raced to the window, pulling back the curtains and saw through the few clear parts of the window that wasn't soaked in blood that every single living thing outside had turned to something down the street. Their eyes has turned blood red over the days but they were all wide open, all their attention they had was focused on whatever they were looking at. I cautiously went to the door and opened the big wooden one. I looked through the screen door and saw that the noise the door had made hadn't caught any of their attentions. I slowly opened the screen door and slipped out. I only stared at the animals, terrified that they would suddenly attack but curious to what amazing thing had suddenly stopped their violent spree of madness for.

I accidentally went in from of a black lab dog, blocking its view and squeaked as I readied for an attack. Nothing came. I opened my eyes and looked at the dog. It still stared straight, as if seeing the image it was so keen on through me. I cautiously touched its nose. It didn't move. I poked its wide eye, and nothing happened. What was it that they could be looking that they couldn't see, hear, or feel anything else. It was finally then that I looked with the rest of them the object that had caught their attention. My own eyes grew wide as I stared as well. I moved into the middle of the street to get a better view. What… is that!

A light. Dark violet. Almost like a sunset of all violet but somehow obviously not. It was much brighter yet you could open your eyes as far as they could go and the light still wouldn't bother them. It was bright and shining far, making everything you could see glowing in violet. It was beautiful, but intimidating. Amazing, yet disgusting. Peaceful, yet violent. It was like fate… and…

It was moving closer.

It looked slow at first, but you could obviously see the light coming to you and getting brighter. With each inch it covered the faster it went till it was fiercely coming at an alarming pace and still speeding up. My breathing hitched as it got closer and closer, devouring everything it touched and turning it into its own violet light. I let out and a scream.

I ran. I ran, but not for long. Less than 20 yards traveled under my feat then…

There was nothing but violet before my eyes. I tried to scream but my breath left me and didn't come back. I was surrounded with the light and my eyes were closing… sending me into the lights darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

My eyes burned. My body ached. The ground felt hard, and…

Something was licking me?

My eyes flew open. Something barked as I closed my eyes again from the pain. I cried out and rubbed them. I gasped when instead of feeling my usually cold palms; I felt soft cloth against my eyelids. I slowly opened my eyes, flinching at the burning. I looked at my hands. Was I wearing gloves before? Wait, it was only one glove, on the right hand. Strange.

I looked closer. It was black with white a palm. The white had different patterns and designs on the fingers and back hand and clear in the palm. The black end was wrapped in black ribbons. I don't remember ever wearing or even buying this, why would I have it on?

I jumped at another bark. To my left was a dog. Memories of crazy animals trying to eat me came back and I screamed and tried to rush away from it but it followed. It didn't bite. It was wagging its tail happily. I hesitated but stuck out my hand. It went to smell it then leaned in for me to pet it. I touched its soft fur with my gloved hand. It closed its eyes, loving it. I smiled.

I looked closer at it and realized it looked more like a wolf. It had thin, sharp eyes and high ears. It was snow white.

"Hey, boy," I spoke to it. It barked again.

The wind blew and the smell finally reached my nose. What is that! It was smoky, and bitter, and absolutely revolting. I turned down wind to see what had such a disgusting smell…

My eyes grew wide and my mouth gaped open at the sight. More memories came to my mind. About the first day. About my siblings falling into their poor states of insanity. About my mother's screams. About my father's warning. About that light.

It was a wreck. Houses half gone, the sidewalk pulled up, burning, terrifying animal bodies littered everywhere. Trees ripped down. Everything broken and had a black tint to it. Everything was dark, yet I was pretty sure it was around noon when that light had come.

The sky was dark violet. Like that light. No clouds, nothing flying through it. Just a sickly color of violet.

I shook. What is this? This can't be my street. My street had friendly neighbors constantly outside, ready to greet you when you came home from school. Young children playing in the streets. Flowers, and trees, and the colors were always bright and alive. Not a dead violet. This can't be. This couldn't happen. It just couldn't.

My mind went away from the scene and back to my family. I stood up faster than I had ever before. My body filling with adrenaline in the complete fear of what would be waiting for me when I opened my front door. My house wasn't any better than the rest of the street.

Not a single window not broken or covered in some black liquid. A few pieces missing like a tornado had hit and ripped some off. My breathing quickened more as I slowed to a walk to the front door. It had been blasting into the living room and now lay smashed through our TV. The couch was charred and ripped up. The walls were blackened. The rug burned through to the wood underneath. The family photos broken and blackened as well. My breath completely stopped when I reached the still closed door of my sister's room.

I didn't want to. I couldn't see what had become of her. What if… but I lived. I didn't even ache anymore. My burning eyes have dulled. Maybe she's…

I opened the door. It was dark. Everything blackened. The window had broken littering the hard wood floor with glass. Her once bright yellow blanket had been turned black as well. At the pillow I saw the bump of her head, facing the other direction, like just this morning when I had went to feed her.

"Bianca!"

I grabbed her shoulder and turned her over. My breath caught in my throat. My body shook more than ever.

She had no eyes. Where they should have been were two large blood red holes. Her mouth was agape in a silent scream. Patches of her skin had been blackened and her beautifully bright blond hair was charred brown.

I screamed. My knees wobbled and fell to the ground, lying in a ball. Breathing loudly and heavily. My body shaking so much it made a rumbling sound. I wrapped my arms around myself and cried. I sat there crying. Crying for my sister. My poor innocent 9-year-old sister, Bianca, who had done nothing but right in her short life.

The dog licked my face again. I looked at it as its tongue lapped over my mouth and nose. Why? Why had I and this dog lived but not Bianca? That couldn't be right. I didn't have any more reason to live then Bianca had. This dog didn't. So, why?

I gasped, running to Zane's room frantically. Instead of hesitating I just whipped the door open.

No. No, no, no, no, no! His room was black. His cradle black… and dripping through the bars… was blood. The tear now creating a permanent line down my cheeks. I walked to the cradle. His body wasn't even there. Just a pool of blood. I cried harder and dropped to my knees. I cried…

And cried…

And cried…

Then grew silent. Sitting still. I couldn't believe this. We were supposed to stay a family forever. We can't be without Bianca and Zane. Zane… not even two years old yet. It just was not fair. I hated myself. My stupid self for living while my poor sister was blown through the eyes and my brother reduced to a blood filled cradle. What about Mother and Father? I stood. Dragging my feet down the blackened hall, up the blackened stairs, and to my parent's blackened door. I hate the color black… and violet. Those two colors only reminded me of my family's death. It was hard to get away from those colors, though. The sky was always violet and everything else was black.

I grabbed the handle, but before I could twist it the door broke off its hinges and fell forward. I looked up, my vision blurred with tears.

The same thing. Everything blackened… and Mother's face… which was facing me… was the same as Bianca's. No eyes, just bloody holes, with a wide mouth.

The now dull feeling of pain washed through me again in a new wave. Mother's dead. I looked away and walked slowly to the other side of the bed. It was obvious Father was dead too, but his face was off. It was a smile. There was a smile on Father's face. His hand was on the bedside table. It was in a clenched fist. I cocked my head to the side. Written with a knife was the bloody word 'read' on the back of his hand. Why did he cut the word 'read' into his own hand? I touched it. He was cold. What's in his hand?

I grabbed it, and slowly pried it open. A piece of paper. A small note with two sentences and seven words.

"You have survived. Now you must live," I read out loud. I stayed silent.

"Father…" I looked at his face. Still with a happy smile. I clenched the paper in my hand and threw it at his stupid smiling face.

"That doesn't make sense, you stupid old man! What is wrong with you?" I yelled at his limp body, breaking the world's deathly silence. I trembled as my tears started over again covered the already dried marks on my face.

"Your other children are dead too. You don't care. What's so special about me? How did you know what was going to happen, huh!" of course there was no answer. My shaking stopped and I looked at Father's face again, then at the note, then back to him. I sighed.

"Thank you, Father."


	3. Chapter 3

I wanted to go to my room and get some things, but the instant I stepped through my door I knew there was nothing that I could take. It was all ruined. I reached into my new white pouch, which I had found was on a black sling across my hips, and pulled out the crinkled note. After I had calmed down, I had picked up the note and searched for somewhere to put it when I noticed all of my clothes had changed. It was now a tight black corset with a white right sleeve that bunched up over itself and a black left sleeve that was sagging and went to my wrist. The bottoms of it had white flames. I had nothing but what looked like black undergarments on at the bottom. Then the black sling with the white pouch. My shoes were a long flat black boot that went to my mid-thigh with white flames at the top on the right foot. The other was like a sock with a sole. The sole was black and the sock part was white.

With such less clothing I thought I would be freezing and uncomfortable, but I felt perfect comforted. What my main question was; how had I gotten these clothes?

I decided to pay no attention to that and look for food. Father told me to live, but I couldn't live without knowing I had something to eat. I don't know why I bothered checking in our kitchen because first; we had almost no food left and second; it had all been burned and blackened and completely uneatable.

I decided to try my neighbors. I walked out of the house but when the smell hit my nose I started vomiting whatever was in my stomach. I was wondering when that would happen. After the grotesque scene I had seen in my own home, I had to have puked at some point.

I walked to my next door neighbor's house and just walked in. I froze when I heard a high, maniacal laughing coming from the upstairs.

At first I was relieved and happy. There was someone else alive! But I stopped. On the couch of their house were the two parents of the house. Mr. and Mrs. Jomillon. Mrs. Jomillon had the same face as Mother and Bianca and Mr. Jomillon's head was looking up, his eyes wide and his mouth agape. There was a complete hole right through his stomach.

Mr. and Mrs. Jomillon had two children. A boy as old as me and a young girl that was 12-years-old, and by the sound of that laugh, their daughter was alive.

That's what scared me. Their daughter had been a bit off. She liked the most mentally disgusting things I had ever known. Like the sight of her parents dead bodies on the couch would get her excited. The sound of a bone breaking made her shiver which is why she had been kicked out of so many schools that she was finally home schooled because she kept purposely breaking other kid's arms and legs. Even one time killed a boy by snapping his neck just to hear the sound. Because she was young no one ever pressed charges on her. Either that or the children who had gotten hurt were too frightened of her to not beg their parents not to press charges.

She was the definition of 'freak of nature.' She was…

What the hell? I can't remember her name. I know she's a Jomillon but what was her first name? What was it? Her brother was Jonah and Mr. and Mrs. Jomillon's names were Ann and Keith, but what was their daughter's name? This scared me. Why couldn't I think of it?

There was another loud laugh. I decided that I should at least see if she's alright. Even though she was laughing you could never know with… her. I still can't think of it!

I descended the stairs and paused in front of the first door. It was slightly opened so I peeked through the side to see in. My eyes widened at the sight.

There she was. But she was different. Not just her looks. There was a different gleam in her eye that actually said 'evil' in it.

She was standing in the middle of the black room… holding up the remains of her elder brother by the hair. Jonah has blond hair like his sister. One eye was missing with a full hole going right through his skull while the other was wide open in pure blue shock and terror. He had neither of his arms or… anything below his ribcage. He had been skinny because you could see the ribs through what skin he had on his torso. With his body being held in the air, any internal organs he had spilled out in a pool of blood on the black floor.

She was smiling. The girl now had even longer blond hair then she did before, going all the way down to her feet. She wore a long black dress that went to her ankles. It had puffy shoulders and white ribbons tied just under neither the shoulders on each arm. Her neck hole a designs of white on it and so did the sleeves and the trim of the end of the dress. She had plain black class shoes. Her family's regular eye color of pale blue was not there. Instead she had deep red eyes.

She laughed again. Long, loud, and evil.

"What a weak sibling I have, no wait, had! Your dead!" she laughed as if the fact that one of her closest family members was now dead, spilling out guts, was one of the funniest things in the world. It terrified me. How could anyone think that their own flesh and blood being dead was a happy, funny thing? I closed my eyes, not wanting to see, but I still listened.

"That was a quite well sixteen days," she giggled to herself. It was disgusting that such a horrible creature could make such an innocent sound, "It was quite annoying to have to kill every bird that came after me but I did get to break into other houses and feed those stupid idiots to those nice doggies outside." My eyes snapped open. Over those horrible days… she had snuck out of her house and kicked other people out of their homes just to settle her sick desire to see death!

Not wanting to even hear anymore, I went back downstairs, as quickly but as quietly as I could, not wanting such a sick creature to know I was in her territory.

She terrified me so much I just left the house, not even checking the kitchen for food. I didn't want to see what else was hidden in my other neighbor's houses so I walked down the street, keeping an eye out for any sign of life. I sighed when I reached the end of the street. This was horrible. What was I to do? Father, why must I live here? Why can't I just die and be with you and Mother and Bianca and Zane again.

A screech. A screaming, non-human sound came from above. It was loud, and like a monster. My head zipped to where it was coming from and saw what looked like a raven, but it was three times bigger than me with four wings, three eyes and sharp teeth in its pointed beak. Its talons were outstretched, ready to grab me right off the ground for its next meal. I ran. As fast as my feet could take me, I ran and didn't look back. There was a crash then the sound of flapping wings and a gust of wind blew behind me. It had landed and missed me by merely a few feet and was now trying to fly up and attack again. The raven creature had its own unique, but still disgusting smell to it. A mixture of wet dog, bird poop, vomit, and someone's bad breathe. I coughed on it. It was back in the air and coming at me again. I should have been wondering what it was but my mind was only concentrating on surviving right now.

But I couldn't out run it. I didn't have anything to protect myself with. What was I going to do?

I tripped. I stupidly tripped on one of the dead animal body that I hadn't seen while I was running. My knees dragged against the pavement, scrapping the one open knee and probably tearing my boot. Who cares about that, I was about to die! I looked back at the winged beast as it neared closer to my defenseless self. I closed my eyes a prepared to be ripped apart.

"Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" was the next sound I heard. Then and ear splitting screech, more flapping, something liquid splashed on me. I opened my eyes. I was… saved. By another bird? No, it was a boy with bird wings. He a sword in his hand, the blade covered in violet liquid that must have been the raven's blood, for the raven was flipping and screeching as more blood came from the new gaping wound in his neck. The more it moved, the worse the wound got and the greater pain it felt. It was suffering. Even though it had just been about to eat me, I felt a bit sorry. Slowly it stopped moving, its eyes closing, and its chest no longer rising. It was dead.

"Geez, these Koraki are such annoying beasts," the boy said to the limp body but more to himself. He turned to me and a friendly look came to his face as he stretched his hand down to help me up, "Hey, you alright?" I took it and let him pull me up. When my weight hit my left leg I wobbled and pain traveled up and down my whole leg and I almost fell again when he caught me. Up close I saw he had light blue eyes and bluish-grey hair. He was wearing a tight black shirt, showing his muscles with a while overcoat with the sleeves bunched up. He had plain black jeans with black shoes and black gloves with finger holes.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," my voice sounded foreign to myself. It was quiet and shaky. I looked at my knee. It was scrapped and cut and was getting really bloody. Patches of my body was covered in the 'Koraki's' violet blood.

"Let me see," he said looking at my knee. He took the end of his coat and ripped two pieces off. Just after they came off, the coat somehow grew more and it looked as if nothing had been taken off of it. He wiped my knee with one piece, making it sting, causing me to wince then he threw that on the ground after getting all the gravel out of the would then wrapped my knee in the other piece. It was still painful but nothing I couldn't handle.

"You coat. How'd it…"

"Regenerate? Look at your boot." I looked at my right leg which should have had a huge hole in the boot but it looked perfectly fine and the skin underneath hadn't been touched.

"How does it do that?" I asked.

He didn't answer my question, but instead asked his own, "How long have you been awake?"

"I don't know, maybe two hours ago. I have no idea what's going on. Who are you? What was the raven thing you killed?"

"My named I guess is Theos. Funny since that means god in Greek, but I'm not even close to that. The thing I killed is what I called a Koraki since it means raven in Greek. What's your name?"

"I'm…" I… couldn't think of my name. This was even weirder then forgetting the Jomillon's daughter's name.

"I-I don't know. I can't remember." He chuckled.

"I guess you haven't been awake very long. Look at your sword." I looked at him strangely.

"What sword? I don't have any sword," I said in confusion. He laughed.

"You haven't noticed it?"

"Noticed what?"

"The five-foot sword strapped to your back!" What? I reached behind me and was surprised to feel the handle of something. I pulled it up over my head and held it out before my eyes. Where had this come from? How had I not noticed it this whole time on my back? It was red and brown, but the blade was shiny white. There were a lot of jagged curves that I couldn't describe, with no hilt, and a point at the end of the handle. Etched into the beginning of the black was the word 'Leipei'.

"Missing? Cool. Nice to meet you, Leipei," Theos held out his hand. I looked at him.

"What?"

"The name etched onto your sword is the new name you're given after you gain your power. You can't remember the name you had before this all happened, and if you knew someone before this happened and they're still alive you can't remember their name. That's how it works. All the names I've seen so far are all in Greek. I learned Greek language a while ago so I know that my name means 'god' and yours means 'missing'." Theos explained.

"How do you know all this?" I asked. Suddenly there were several other screeches like the one the Koraki made, but they were further away. Theos looked worriedly at the sky.

"I'll explain more to you later. We need to get out of here. When a Koraki dies, it sends out a single to the others in its pack, and the pack attacks anything close to the dead Koraki. Come here," I stepped closer to him. He quickly knocked me off my feet and picked me up in his arms.

"Hey! What're you-" I had forgotten he had those giant white wings because after the Koraki was slain they had bunched up behind him, practically hiding them. In a second after I was in his arms, his wings spread and started to flap and we were lifted into the air. I screamed and wrapped my arms around him as the ground got further and further from us.

We're… flying! I'm not one of those people to be excited about flying. I freak out.

"Oh, my god. Oh, my god. Oh, my god," I repeated keeping my eyes closed.

"I wish I could do that," Theos said to himself but I still asked, "What?"

"Close my eyes. If I could fly before this happened I would have loved it, but now, the world looks even worse from above." I knew that was a warning not to look but I had to. I opened my eyes only a slit and looked down. At first the height scared me but then I saw what he had been talking about.

It was like a battlefield. Everything was in ruins. All blackened broken trees, houses, streets, and spread out where the bodies of animals, and even humans. I closed my eyes, but the image stayed in my head. What had happened to the world? Why had it happened? This just wasn't right.

We flew for awhile. The weightless feeling started to get to me and I started to drift to sleep but I tried to stay awake, not wanting to fall asleep on my savior.

"You don't have to stay awake, we have a while before we get where we're going," Theos said as if reading my mind.

"Can you read minds?" I said sleepily. He laughed.

"Nope, all I got is the giant wings." I laughed lightly then fell into unconsciousness.


	4. Chapter 4

My dreams were horrible. I was running down a black hallway frantically looking for something. I reached the end of the corridor and was greeted by everyone I know, or knew all dead, missing their bottom halves. They were all being held up by one giant hand which belonged to a giant version of the Jomillon's daughter. She was laughing evilly. She dropped them all in to a revolting pile of bloody mess. She then reached her overly size hand and grabbed my hair. I couldn't move once her fingers touched my. She lifted up and ripped my torso out of my lower body. I screamed and she laughed.

"Let's feed you to the nice doggies," she said. She then dropped my into a group and sharp-teethed, growling fierce dogs.

"Leipei!" a female voice yelled as I sat straight up breathing hard with cold tears running down my face. I looked at my surrounding. The room wasn't blackened like the rest of the world I had seen. It was bright white and looked like a hospital room. I looked to see who had saved me from my terrifying dream. I quickly recognized her but of course I couldn't remember her name.

"Oh, my god!" I smiled.

"Leipei!" she hugged me. This girl, she was the bestie I had hung out with when this had all started. She was alive! She looked different though. She used to have short, bleach blond hair but now it was completely white and went down to her rear. She wore a choker and a black sleeveless dress that went a little higher than her mid-thigh with white ruffles underneath. She also had black and white striped tights and black flat boots that were tied tightly at the top to keep them up. She was also holding a black umbrella against her shoulder.

"You can't blame me for not remembering your name," I said. She laughed.

"Of course. My name is Omprela now. And you're my new-named best friend Leipei!" we hugged each other. This was the happiest thing that has happened to me since the world had turned into a hell-hole of death.

"Omprela it's so good to see your alive!" I cried then my face fell, "The rest of my family is dead, at least I have someone." She looked at me sympathetically.

"It's alright, Leipei. My mom and dad are gone too. I don't even know what happened to Garret but I guess he's dead since I still know his name."

"Hey, Freak-Hair is she awake yet?" a male voice came from outside the closed door. Omprela groaned.

"Shut up, Droseros, your hair's the same color, and yes she just woke up," Omprela yelled irritably. There were footsteps then the boy called Droseros was gone.

"Who else is here?" I asked.

"Just me, you, Theos, that idiot Droseros, and another girl called, Prasino. Theos woke up two days ago and has been flying across the states looking for survivors. I was about to be Tigri food when he showed up as saved me. He also saved Droseros from a Vatrachos and Prasino from a Skylos. He may say he isn't a god like his name says but he's already been four people's saviors in only two days."

"Speaking of Theos, he still owes me some explanations, help me," she lifted me up by my arms. When I was up I grabbed my sword which had been lying by my bed and strapped it on my back. I also noticed my knee had been properly bandaged. Now, that I wasn't filled with fear and adrenaline, I felt how much it actually hurt.

"You got a pretty bad scrape there, can you walk?" Omprela asked. I tested my weight on my injured leg. It hurt but I could deal with it until we found Theos.

"Yeah, I'm fine." We walked to the door and when it opened I was trampled by something. It started licking my face and I instantly knew it was that white dog that had been with me on my street when I found my family dead.

"Hey, boy! You followed me all the way here? That's a good doggie!" I sat up and pet it and it shook its leg, telling me he liked it.

"This is your dog?" Omprela asked.

I looked at her with the dog's tongue still licking my face, "Well, sort of, I found it on my street when I woke up and I guess it likes me." She looked at it strangely.

"Hey, Leipei."

"Hm?"

"I think there's something wrong with that dog." Her face said that she was suspicious and also a little scared. I looked at the dog and it tilted its head as if to say, 'I don't know what she's talking about either.'

I looked back to her, "What do you mean something wrong? It's just a regular dog."

She shook her head, "That can't be. If it were a regular dog then it would've been turned into a monster by that light before. All the other animals either changed or died, so how could this dog be different?" I thought about what she said.

"So, what are you saying? You think this dog's evil or something like that?" I asked somewhat hoping this was just a little joke she was making up. Come on, so all the animals in the world either changed or died except for this one dog that I happened to find?

"Well, not really evil, I just think it's odd. Doesn't it look a little odd too?" I looked at the dog again. It was like a dog but looked more like a wolf, but that's not that unusual. The weirdest thing about it was its thick white coat but that still wasn't unusual enough to make a comment like Omprela's about.

"Leipei, you don't see anything wrong with this dog, or feel something wrong?" Omprela pressed on. It was starting to piss me off.

I glared at her, "Omprela, we gained powers like some mutants, out entire appearance is different, the world is full of violet and black and death, and you think that the oddest thing here is the dog?"

Her face softened, "Well, no, but I think we should ask Theos about the dog. I don't really trust it that much, it still seems weird to me." Without another word on the subject, we walked off down the amazingly not blackened hallway in search of our winged savior. The further we walked through the building, the more confused I got.

"Hey, Om, where are we?" I asked, shortening her new name. She giggled.

"I like how that sounds, we're in a hospital."

"So? Why's it not like everywhere else?" She waited a bit before answering.

"I don't know. I never really noticed. All I saw when I awoke was my parents dead in front of me and that giant tiger eating their bodies, then I ran out and Theos saved me, so I haven't really seen much of this world yet, plus all the windows here are blacked out so you can't just look outside. I think this is Adamson Hospital in Grevil."

"We're in Frans," I jumped at the unexpected voice to the side. We had been passing a waiting room when I heard it.

There was a girl sitting there. She had long blond hair tied in a band behind her. She wore an armor-like top that ended high above her stomach with short sleeves and a high collar. She had plated arm guard on each arm. You could see her green underwear under her plated skirt-like bottoms, with a belt and little bellow knee-high heeled boots. It was all green with gold trim and odd markings. She was also looking at an old war-like sword in her lap. On it I saw the name 'Prasino' etched into it.

We're in Smims. This is the Goldman hospital," her voice was deep, but you could hear much sadness in it, "I was born here. We all were born here. Me… Jacob… Max… Allen, and even mom and dad. We were born here. We started here, now they've ended here." I could tell she wasn't talking to us anymore, but more mourning to herself. I felt a pang of sadness myself at her words. For Zane. For Bianca. For Mother and Father.

"Prasino!" Suddenly Omprela spoke up next to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Prasino's head came up, her eyes now filled with tears. I looked at Omprela to see she too was crying. Her hands were at her sides, clenching and unclenching, her umbrella lay on the ground in front of her where she must have slammed it on the ground when she had spoken up. I tried to touch her shoulder to calm her but she slapped it away.

"Leipei! You too! You're not the only ones who lost people. MY brother's dead. MY parents are dead! I'M sad too! Get over it, Prasino! You've been sitting there ever since I got here, crying and whining! I cried one! So, you can just stop!" Her ranting ended and she suddenly dropped to her knees, her hands on her face, crying. Her sobs echoed down the long white halls.

"Omprela… don't you think your parents and brother would be happy that you lived. Even if they're gone you're still here. YOU are alive, and I'm pretty sure that's all that would matter to them," I said. I knew Omprela. Comforting touches and false promises wouldn't work to make her feel better. You had to give her a positive truth and that was all I could come up with, but she kept on crying. It seemed like hours later her sobs quieted to just tiny whimpers. She stood up and looked up at me. I could see the dried tear marks running down her face. I smiled kindly, and she did as well. Then she laughed.

"Garret would probably yell at me though, you know," she said. We both laughed. I wrapped my arms around her in a big hug, and she returned it.

"Feel better, Om?" I asked her. She nodded.

"Did you two know each other before this?" The voice came from down the hall. Theos walked up to us.

"Yeah. Lucky break that my best friend in the whole world is still in this hell hole," Om said slapping me in the back. I groaned and rubbed it. She still hit hard.

"Leipei, how's you leg?" Theos asked coming closer to us.

"Oh, it's fine now. Walking was a bit hard at first but it helped dull the pain. I think it'll heal quickly."

"Are you hungry?" As if on cue my stomach growled, loudly. I laughed nervously as Theos and Omprela laughed at me.

"Guess I am. Do we have food?" I remembered the blackened spoils at my house, and I would rather not consume that. Theos nodded.

He walked up to us, "It's in the cafeteria. We're saving the food stored here for when we really need it. I think Droseros went to eat, but all we have is grilled meat from animal's we've killed." I stared at him strangely. The thought of eating animals, even animals like that Koraki was just sickening, but I was really getting hungry. I realized how hungry in one second, and was running in the next.

It was easy to find the cafeteria; I could smell cooking meat from ten halls away. Inside the big white room filled with long white tables, I saw one seat occupied. The boy was hunched over a large plate of meat. His large white over-coat hung on the back of the chair and laid across the table in front of him was a long sword with no hilt. His white hair slightly bobbed as he chewed and ripped big chucks out of the meat with his teeth. His shirt looked white with no sleeves like one of those ninja tops you see in old movies. The armor that hung out the bottom had old patterns of dragons and vine-like swirls. His pants were grayish and looked way too roomy for any boy and he had old black sandals and those ninja-like socks on. He looked pretty funny to me, and I felt like if I spoke to him I wouldn't understand the language.

He hadn't noticed me in the room yet, being a little pre-occupied by the steaming meat. I walked to his table and stood in front of him, then realized I had nothing to say. I was too hungry to think at this point too.

"Um… What are you eating?" I asked, watching him scarf down the meat. Without looking up he answered, "Koraki meat," then continued to eat. No wonder the meat was a violet shade of red.

"Is it good?" I asked uncertainly. The thought of eating that bird that attacked me earlier made my empty stomach lurch. The boy took a big gulp then looked up from his meat.

"Tastes like steak. You're Leipei, right?" I nodded.

"Are you Droseros?"

"Yep. Did Freak-Hair tell you that?"

"Her name is Omprela, plus your hair is the same color!"

"You two were friends before all this, right?" He ignored me.

"Yeah."

"Did she always have hair like that?"

"It used to be platinum blond." We both went silent. My mouth started watering as I looked at the meat hanging limply off the bone in Droseros's hands.

"Um… is there any more of that?" I asked, my hunger getting the best of me. Droseros chuckled. He had canine teeth.

"Yep, in the kitchen." My self control completely left me and I ran to the kitchen and quickly found the big plate of violet ribs. I took five big bones and went back out, sat across from Droseros and dug in. He laughed.

"You sure have an appetite," he commented on my behavior of stuffing my face without holding back. I glared at him.

"I love steak, and this is good," I didn't talk much but kept eating. The violet meat was good. Just gonna have to forget I'm eating a giant bird.

"Still love meat, Lei. You always were a glutton."

"Shove it, veg bug, or I'll stuff this down your throat," I yelled at the white haired girl walking into the cafeteria. She laughed. A quiet laugh, but full of confidence.

"I still fell badly for all the poor little piggies you ate that one time!" she said, holding her hands in front of her in a fake dramatic position, as if praying for all 230 pieces of bacon I ate back when we were 13.

"Go suck an apple!" My usual come back. I always say go suck some random fruit or vegetable whenever she makes a comment about my meat loving.

"Hey, Dro, how'd you get Lei to eat purple meat?" Omprela asked.

"She got it herself. Hey! Don't call me Dro!"

"Don't call me Freak-Hair then!"

"Don't have freaky hair!"

"We have the same hair color!"

"So?"

"Then your insult is insulting you too!"

"So?"

"You guys make an adorable couple." My comment got me more of the loud yelling, now in my ear, but also two embarrassed blushed. I laughed. Then Prasino entered the battle field.

"Hey, Pro! Don't you think Droseros and Omprela make the most adorable couple you've ever seen?" Prasino gave me a weird look but before she could say a word Omprela tackled me.

"Leipei, you know I hate it when you always do this! Didn't you learn when I broke your arm after you tried setting me up with Danny Walsh!" I laughed as she shook me violently. It felt good. It felt normal. It felt alive. To playfully fight with an old friend. To meet new interesting people. It felt right, unlike everything else. The world was practically destroyed and if I didn't have this. This fun. This human contact. This living feeling, I wouldn't know what to do with my life, and I knew I had to do something with it. People died. Friends died. Family died, but we had lived. We must have lived for a reason, an important reason. If not, why have us live? It wouldn't make sense if we had lived, changed, and gained power to do nothing in life with it. The only problem was that I had no idea what my purpose for living was yet. I don't care at the moment though. I'd like to enjoy normalness for as long as I can.

"Leipei!" Omprela's attacks stopped at the sound of Theos entering the cafeteria. She stood up and I did as well.

"What is it?" I asked.

He spoke with confidence, something I hadn't heard from a boy before, "You haven't seen much, which is a good thing, but I'd like you to come with me for a search. I'm headed out to look for more survivors, and I think you'd like to help. What do you say?" Look for survivors. That also meant finding the bodies of the ones that didn't survive as well as seeing the terrified face of one that had seen this world. My mind contradicted with my heart as it felt the pull to help ones in need of rescuing. I nodded.

"Sure. I'll go," I said, then followed him out of the cafeteria.

Omprela shifted nervously from side to side. Her hands gripped each other tightly. 'Leipei was going out there,' she thought. Omprela fought the tears that threatened once again to show themselves on her face. The worry filled her and she shivered. She has lost a lot, and she was raw with fear, and losing Leipei would be her final straw. She ran out of the cafeteria and to the room Leipei had woken up in. She remembered Theos bringing her in, her excitement. Her unconscious and Omprela's worry. All the death in the world, and her fear resurfaced. The world was ending, Omprela's was crumbling to nothing, and she was feeling a tornado of emotions she had never wanted to feel. She was lost. She had been lost before, but Theos had found her. She was lost again, but Leipei had arrived. She was now lost again. She thought of her best friend, her worry for her safely, and how alone she felt only minutes after they had been laughing together. She couldn't follow, that would mean going out into hell again. She didn't want to stay, that would mean loneliness and worry. She was lost, contradicting, and now tired. She fell asleep in the bed Leipei was in not half an hour ago. Her worry and fear subsided as the smells and happy thoughts of her friend entered her. In this hell on earth, Leipei was the last thing she had to her old life, the last thing keeping her alive. The only thing keeping her sanity in tact.


End file.
